Another great vid Zak - keep 'em coming. I have bought the OC-2 (and most of my other effects) thanks to your very instructional posts but have struggled to understand why my digital octaves (OC-3, Digitech Whammy-DT, H9) don't get to the tone the OC-2 can create. Now I know why. Awesome job. This will help a lot of folks. :)
If you ever have the opportunity try a Pearl OC7 Octaver, circa 1984-1991, it's a MIJ analogue unit with 1 octave down, 2 octaves down, upper octave, and straight guitar/bass out. All blendable. Fantastic tracking and an almost Moog Taurus sound if you input it into the Korg G5 Bass Synthesizer. There's a world of funky bass sounds from Moog, Roland TB303, and Arp monophonic style synth sounds.
May favorite octaver is now my Future Impact. Zero tracking issues, and tweakable. Next would be my 3Leaf Octabvre and my new version 2 Cog T-16, followed by my OC-2.
Just out of curiosity, do you use the OC-2 “octaver” or “octave”? And is there a difference between the two beyond the extra letter? I’ve heard that one was made in Japan and the other in Taiwan, but I’m wondering if there’s a tonal difference? Do you know?
Hey Zak, I do have one questions. The JHS mod you had done to your OC-2....do you know of anywhere that can perform this mod on mine. JHS don't advertise the mod any longer. Thanks.
I'm closing in on the Pitchfactor being the right choice for me - what does it sound like when you're playing on the low strings with an octave down and fuzz / distortion afterwards? I'm looking for a world ending sort of sound, defined enough to hear the fundamental but also plenty of earthquake around it.
Hello Zachary! Could you do one video of how do you route your effects with boss ES-8, or with some other switcher that you use? Also, do you still use Future Impact, and if you do could you do video of that pedal, but as more advance settings (midi and computer software)? thanks
Hello Zachary I have been reading about stings gauge trying to set my mind on what to buy. I play 5 strings Pedulla Rapture and I use medium gauge 45-130 Ernie ball super slinky I have used a light gauge before 40-125 And I am looking to try the super bright by Dunlop 40-120. My question is, is there a big difference in tone production between medium and light? I play prog rock with my band, and I dig into different kind of music. Any advice on this? Many thanks
So, I picked up an inexpensive p/j bass that is of more than legit quality. It has an excellent 18v preamp that is quite loud. I am modding the whole thing into my dream pbass; from hardware replacement to some more ambitious things. Mostly aesthetically and such... But I have been using a signal path of bass to compressor to octaver to fuzz to various expression fx. My mission is to throw two small pedal circuits into the expanded control cavity I made. I have space for the tc electronics spectra comp and sub 'n' up in my cavity (power is handled because I have some clever electrician friends helping in designing a battery system). I designed this because octavers are touchy and a compressor will help in evening out some dynamics before hitting that circuit. If I wire them from preamp to compressor to octaver, I have all my controls I wanna fiddle with without squatting down n knob twiddling and have it all at my fingertips. Everything is complete besides actually installing the circuits to my custom control panel. Any thoughts before I go forth?
Hello Zachary! I have one question! Wave would like to know your impressions about the electronic subnup tc. If you ever plan to make a video of that pedal! This pedal provides both mono and polyphonic options! I have one and have not yet found a setting equal to the OC2, despite having the toneprint for settings. Thank you and your videos are excellent.
@Zach: Since Sub&Up and OC-3 are both emulating analog mono octavers. I am sure many people would love to hear your thoughts about differences between OC2 vs. TC and OC3.
Amilcar Ribeiro after checking the subnup for two hours, I quickly decided to sell it. and the reason is: there is not one setting coming close to the beloved OC-2!
Alan Humble I would bet that this mod is pretty simple to DIY. It is probably just a switch shortening the dry pot to zero. Someone with basic knowledge and a soldering iron would be able to do it easily.
Zach, did you try the "Classic Octaver" patch on the H9? That one sounds a lot more like the Boss OC-2 than whatever PitchFlex patch you used in this demo.
The OC2 Into the gate fuzz is great.. I wonder how it would sound with the Fairfield accountant On its most extreme settingbefore the fuzz, To exacerbate the gated choppy awesome sound
Nice demo! Thanks for wisdom! I was surprised to see/hear you use the compressor after the octaver in this demo. I'd've expected you to use it out front to promote better tracking (because I do that when octav'ing with guitar). But I can also see how comp'ing the sub octave might make it translate better live by keeping the subby tones from getting out of control. Is that your thinking there? Mahalo ~ tone
-Periodically watch your video) I like it very much) I also play bass, I'm from Russia) So I'm wondering if you're playing in ensemble) And do you have albums)
darn... so I need one of each. Does anyone make a dual mode octaver with both analog and digital (is that what the OC3 does)? Or could the sub n up use toneprint to sound like both?
Ciao Zach, another useful video from you. Thank You. One of my actual interests is searching for a pedal with a good (and thick enough) octave up tone. I'm fascinated by the 8string (and similar) basses, and I got the best results with an old Lexicon MPX1 rack unit. Maybe this will be the subject of a future video from you? Ludovico - Italy
Nice. Thanks John. I checked out their site. Sounds immense. Shame they don't have any decent demos of it being used on bass and the only one I could find on the net was so badly played I lost interest. Do you use one on bass for octave up? I am interested for replicating the Royal Blood/Twin atlantic type distorted upper register lines where the bass 'in effect' plays the guitar part too.
The Octron 3 is probably going to replace my Octron 2 on my board because of the space saving. But both have the same functionality. In fact the 3 looks like it might suit you/us better. Because with the Hi-Octave you can now adjust the tone on the front of the box instead of having to go in and adjust the mini-pot on the inside. With the EQ switch on the bass Octave too, this means we can go from rockin' to dubby with the flick of a switch! Amazingly useful! I use the Octron for guitar and bass and I power it at 18V in both cases. It is super clean, has a ton of headroom and is kind of like an OC2 and a Tentacle in the same box. The '2' replaced my Pog handily 12-years ago!
I have the OC-2 (tw) & MXR BOD (& Old DOD Meatbox). And I would not recomment the MXR as a solution for "analog synthy sound similar to Boss". Where OC2, beeing very clean, is perfect for running into distortions, the MXR BOD has some inherent dirt in it and it never sounded too good routed into fuzz od dist. With that in mind, it is a great analog but "slightly dirty" octaver to be run on it own. (but no John Mayer sound).
OC-2 is the best thing ever. Especially the old Japanese version. I've had all of them. Some sounds meh.. Then I got another Japanese one.. And realized that's what it was.
The Japanese and Taiwan are identical; exactly the same circuitry. It's like Eric Johnson saying he can hear the difference between the same pedal when he uses a Duracell battery vs. an Energizer battery; ridiculous. Just don't spend an overinflated price for an Japan-Made OC-2, unless you're a sucker. 'Older' doesn't mean 'better'.
